


Green Ashes

by pil-flip (s_n_a_k_e)



Category: Hollow Knight (Video Games)
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-01-23
Updated: 2020-01-23
Packaged: 2021-02-27 04:40:52
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 604
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22371208
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/s_n_a_k_e/pseuds/pil-flip
Summary: Tiso thinks about his time in the Colosseum.
Kudos: 38





	Green Ashes

The Colosseum of Fools. A place for warriors to fight, and win, and be known. It promised fame, power, and it was amazing.

At least, that's what he had thought.

It had met his expectations at first. After getting told a brief explanation of the trials and how to enter them, he had rested for a few moments in the warriors pit (that tiny, pale thing had been there too. They seemed too young, too small, to be in a place like this. He was worried, but of course they couldn't know that) before entering his first trial. It wasn't difficult, not for him.

The second trial was harder. He has rested before attempting it, waited about a day, but by then he was bored of waiting. The larger hoppers were almost too difficult for him to beat, but after those he had managed to win. 

It wasn't long before he made it to the third trial. 

He almost didn't make it to the end. 

But he was a warrior, he had to fight, it was all he could do. It was too late to give up now. He had managed to survive this long, right?

Looking back on it now, he really does feel like just another fool. 

He still remembers seeing God Tamer ride into the Colosseum on the back of her beast. He still remembers thinking about how sharp her sword looked, and how heavy the blade must be.

He still remembers how that sword felt tearing into his shell like it was paper, crushing it into bits, forming cracks and deep cuts. He remembers the faint orange glow of her eyes, barely visible behind the helmet she wore, and how it matched the orange infection her beast spit out. He remembers watching his own blood spill on the floor, green standing out on the orange stains that covered the arena.

A cough pulls Tiso out of his thoughts, he can taste blood pooling in his mouth, and now he's aware of the pain where bits of his shell have been torn off, broken and shattered, crushed under the weight of the blade. His shield lays near his hand but he doesn't have the strength to reach for it anymore. His vision blurs, and he feels something wet on his arm and his chest and it's probably his own blood, but he doesn't want to look. Doesn't think he can look, anyway. 

He really should have expected this. Sure, he was a decent warrior, he had made it almost all the way through the Trial of the Fool. What a fitting name that was. 

Ash gets into his mouth when he breathes, making him choke. The taste of blood is making him feel sick, but he's too weak to cough and clear his throat. He does anyways, watching the pure white ash turn green. Clumps of stuck together ash fall out of his mouth, dripping with blood, and that makes him feel sick too. 

Now he's too weak to do anything but try to breathe, but it hurts. The light is too bright, and he closes his eyes. He should even be alive right now. Why was he not dead yet? 

Did it really matter?

He hears footsteps crunching through the ash. He can barely lift his head enough to see who it is. The pale thing, the child, who had somehow survived the Colosseum. At least one trial. He feels proud for some reason. 

They pick him up, and he's almost impressed by how strong they are. The last thing he sees is his shield, still laying in the ash.


End file.
